All about the porcupine. Porcupine animal. Description, features and habitat of the porcupine. porcupine habitat

Even in the days of Ancient Rome, there was a legend that the porcupine is capable, like arrows, of throwing its needles at enemies, and also that they are poisonous. In fact, neither is true. The porcupine can quickly stick the needles and bounce, or lose them with sudden movements. And the soreness and difficulty of healing the wounds left by the porcupine is explained by the presence of dust, dirt and sand on the needles, which causes their infection.

The body length of the porcupine is 38-90 cm. Weight is from 2-3 kg to 27 kg. There are needles on the back, sides and tail. The color is brown, and on the needles - striped, black and white. The quills of porcupines are the longest among mammals, and by origin they are modified hair. In length they reach 40 cm, in diameter 7 mm, very sharp. The "fur" of the porcupine consists of soft furry hair, hard, flat bristles, long and elastic bristles, hard and long needles.

The porcupine is a herbivore. In summer and spring, it feeds on green parts of plants, roots, bulbs and tubers. In autumn, he switches to a diet consisting of watermelons, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, grapes, and alfalfa. In winter, it eats a lot of tree bark, nibbling the bottom of the trunks for this purpose. Very rarely can add insects to their diet.

The distribution range of porcupines includes Europe, Africa, India and South America, as well as the USA and Canada, Central Asia, Transcaucasia and Kazakhstan. The natural habitat of these animals is very diverse - these are deserts, savannahs, tropical forests.

Common species of porcupine

Also known as crested or crested, lives in Africa and Italy. Body length reaches 0.7 m, weight exceeds 20 kg. The body is squat, the legs are thick. Dark bristles are located on the chest, sides and legs, all other parts of the body are covered with sharp long black-and-white needles.

A large species with sharp, hard needles. The needles are painted black and white or yellow, with wool between them. The legs are short and covered with brown hairs. Body length 63-73 cm, tail length 6-11 cm. Body weight from 700 to 2400 g.

The species is found in Nepal, northeast India, central and southern China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo.

Body weight reaches 27 kg, averages 8-12 kg. Body length is about 90 cm, tail length is 10-15 cm. The body is stocky with thick needles of various lengths. Needles from dark or black-brown to white, sharp. Between the needles are hard bristly hairs. There is a hard crest on the head. The underside of the body is covered with dark brown hairs. The muzzle is blunt and rounded, dark, without needles. The eyes are round, small. Ears are small. Paws are short.

The species is distributed in Southern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Iraq, Iran, southern China, India and Ceylon.

Body weight reaches 15 kg. The species is found in India and southern Asia from eastern Transcaucasia and Kazakhstan to the countries of southeast Asia, where it lives in deserts, savannahs, forests, and mountains.

The species is endemic to Indonesia, found in Java, Bali, Sumbawa, Flores, Lombok and Madura.

A resident of the island of Kalimantan, where he lives both in forests and on agricultural land, and even in cities.

Body length is 45-56 cm. Tail length is 2.5-19 cm. Weight is 3.8-5.4 kg. The body is covered with hollow needles, sharp flat needles and stiff bristles up to 16 cm long. The color is generally dark brown, needles with white tips. Off-white spots are located on the bottom of the neck. There is no comb.

Distributed on the island of Sumatra at an altitude of up to 300 m above sea level, in forests, on rocky wastelands, cultural plantations.

Body length is 35-48 cm, tail length is 18-23 cm, body weight is 1.75-2.25 kg. The coat is brown above, whitish below. The surface of the body is covered with flexible needles of moderate length. The tail is brown, scaly, easily torn off, especially in females.

It lives on the Malay Peninsula, on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, in forests and cultivated plantings.

Sexual dimorphism is not typical for porcupines. Males and females look the same in appearance.

Porcupines live on the ground, sometimes dig underground passages, or hide in rock crevices or use abandoned minks of other species. These animals are nocturnal. During the day they sit in their holes and shelters, and at dusk they get out. During the night, the porcupine travels several kilometers, and along the way it eats roots, plants, tubers, bark and insects. In winter, porcupines rarely leave their holes in which they build a nest.

Porcupines often live next to people to feast on crops from agricultural plantations. In search of food, animals sometimes even gnaw through thick rods blocking the entrance.

Porcupines are monogamous and choose one mate for life. They live in families in caves or minks up to 20 m in length. Here, porcupines equip a soft nest of grass for future offspring.

Mating takes place in early spring. Pregnancy lasts 110-112 days, in one litter 2-5 babies. Porcupine cubs are born sighted, with a delicate light fluff instead of needles. By the end of the first month of life, they become adults.

natural enemies

The porcupine has few natural enemies, as its quills are an excellent defense even against tigers and leopards. When attacking a porcupine, it first warns the predator: it begins to quickly stomp its hind legs, shake its quills and make a loud crack. If the pursuer does not leave, then the porcupine swiftly rushes at him and pricks with needles.

Thanks to such protection, the porcupine is not afraid of large animals and does not even give way to cars, trying to threaten them with quills.

Porcupine quill wounds are one of the main reasons why tigers and leopards in Africa and India begin to prey on humans. Having received a couple of dozen needles in the muzzle and paws, the beast becomes unable to hunt ungulates and attacks a person.

• The porcupine is the second largest rodent in Europe after and the third in general after the beaver and capybara.
• Porcupines are frequent guests of gardens, melons and plantations, and are regarded as pests that destroy watermelons and melons and dig the ground heavily. Even wire meshes do not save them from their raids. In addition, these animals bite the hoses of irrigation systems in search of water. For these reasons, porcupines were often exterminated in the past.
• Porcupine meat tastes like rabbit meat, it is white, tender and juicy. Previously, porcupines were often hunted for food, but now such hunting is more sporting.
• Porcupines take root in captivity, get used to it well and even breed. Their life expectancy is about 20 years.

These prickly representatives of the order of rodents settled all over the world. They can be found in Africa, South and North America, Asian countries and even Europe. Representatives of different continents differ in their appearance and habits. The habitats of the porcupine are usually reflected in the name of the species: South African, Indian, Malay, Javanese, North American.

spiny rodent

The main feature of the porcupine is the quills that cover its back. They give the animal a formidable and intimidating appearance, it was this goal that nature pursued when creating this beast. The rodent, whose average weight is about 13 kg and a length of approximately 80 cm, carries up to 30 thousand needles. In places where porcupines live, there used to be legends that the animals shoot at the enemy with these poisonous needles. In fact, light, up to 250 grams, the needles are simply lost and fall off when walking over rough terrain. Their poisonousness is also in great doubt, although the injection is quite painful and can cause inflammation in humans.

The air-filled quills serve as floats for the porcupine, which allows them to successfully swim. An exotic outfit, donated by nature to the animal for protection, in the human environment has become its enemy. It is because of the colorful and long needles that go to jewelry that these animals are most often exterminated. The porcupine meat is considered a delicacy.

porcupine habitat

Spiny animals are considered more mountain animals. They can equip long burrows with many corridors in caves, mountain voids, but they also successfully dig themselves. Settlements of some species can be found both in the steppes and in the foothill areas, but even here they choose places with ravines and slopes.

The porcupine is not a predator. The diet consists of roots, fruits and berries of plants of the area where porcupines live in nature. These vegetarians are not averse to profiting from the fruits of the garden and often raid the farmsteads of peasants. Porcupines climb trees well, are nocturnal, and sleep during the day. Strong teeth allow the rodent to tear off the bark and gnaw on wood, so much so that over the winter up to a hundred plantings will be destroyed.

Porcupine crested or crested

This species of echinoderms is the most common and typical, also called Asian. Quite a large representative of its kind. There are males weighing 25-27 kg. Body length - up to a meter, plus 10-15 cm - tail. A beautiful color is the alternation of needles of black-brown and white colors. Where do crested porcupines live? Their distribution covers almost the entire Middle East region to the southernmost regions of China, India, Sri Lanka. It is also found in some countries of Southeast Asia, on

Asians eat greens: grass and leaves, they are not averse to dragging grapes, apples, cucumbers from gardens. Therefore, they settle closer to the cultivated areas. In winter, they switch to tree bark.

African echinoderms

The largest of the African rodents, the South African porcupine reaches 63-80 cm in length and weighs from 1 to 24 kg. It is distinguished by long, up to 50 cm, spines and a white line running along the croup. The needles on the tail are collected in an elegant bun. Where does the porcupine live? Mainland Africa, its southern part, is the birthplace of the animal.

Another representative of this continent is the African brush-tailed porcupine. Its range covers the countries of the central part of the continent and the island of Fernando Po. It is called the brush-tailed because of the light hair brush at the end of the bare scaly tail. This echinoderm rodent swims well, in addition to the usual plant food, it also eats small insects.

Indian porcupine

In appearance, this beast is similar to an ordinary Asian rodent, has a beautiful black-brown-white color, black head and paws. This is the most unpretentious species of porcupines: animals live in the highlands, and in the forest, and in the steppe regions, and even in semi-deserts. They eat everything vegetable, roots and bulbs. Despite the Indian name, it feels good in the mountains of the Caucasus, Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

Sumatra and Borneo

In the forests and agricultural lands of Sumatra, an atypical representative of this family is found: the long-tailed porcupine. Its dissimilarity to its counterparts is manifested in the fact that it has very thin and flexible needles, from a distance similar to thick brown bristles. They are located in the back of the body, closer to the tail. The whole appearance of this porcupine resembles an ordinary large rat. Long-tailed individuals climb trees and shrubs well, love bamboo shoots, fruits, pineapples.

The Sumatran porcupine, which lives only in this place, also lives on. This animal is relatively smaller than its relatives. The maximum length of the Sumatran endemic is 56 cm, the largest weight is 5.4 kg. Its appearance is similar to the long-tailed one - the same thin needles, more reminiscent of bristles. The coloration is also brown, but the ends of the setae are white.

The native of Borneo is considered to be the hard-nosed porcupine. Its appearance allows us to attribute it to the relatives of the Sumatran representative, but its needles are harder and larger in size. In addition to their usual habitats in forests and mountain ranges, these animals can also be found in cities, where they eat greens and fruits in parks and squares.

Where do porcupines live in America

Needlewools, which live on both American continents, look very similar to their typical tropical relatives, but are smaller and heavier. This is such a mini-copy of real porcupines, more like a hedgehog. Americans are evenly spiky, without particularly long spines at the back.

North American porcupines live in the United States, Canada. They hid their spines under a thick coat of wool. It is the only species in North America.

The southern continent has a large species diversity. American porcupines are called tree porcupines, they deftly climb trees, some settle down there for permanent residence in nests or hollows. There are species with tenacious tails up to 45 cm long, with which they cling to branches and shrubs.

Are there porcupines in Europe?

Rodents with spines are not typical representatives of the European fauna, but nevertheless, there are places in Europe where porcupines live. In what country did these heat-loving animals find their place? Families of these spine carriers can be found in Greece, Italy, Sicily. Common or crested porcupines have long lived here. Scientists argue about whether the settlement of porcupines in this area was an evolutionary process, or whether they were brought by the ancient Romans, who were great lovers of porcupine meat. On the territory of Russia, crested porcupines can be found in the South-Eastern Caucasus.

Detachment - rodents

Family - Porcupines

Genus/Species - Hystrix cristata. Crested porcupine, crested porcupine, common porcupine

Basic data:

DIMENSIONS

Length: 60-80 cm.

Weight: 13-25 kg.

BREEDING

Puberty: from 2 years old.

Number of litters: 2-3 per year.

Number of cubs: usually 2-3 per litter.

Pregnancy: 110-115 days.

LIFESTYLE

Habits: porcupines (see photo) usually keep alone and only in the mating season - in pairs.

Habitat: prefers rocky areas with ample vegetation.

Sounds: loud growl.

Food: roots, tubers and fruits.

Lifespan: in nature 12-15 years, in captivity - longer.

RELATED SPECIES

Five species of porcupines belong to the genus Hystrix. The remaining four species are the South African, Malay, Javanese and Indian porcupines.

The crested porcupine is not only the largest, but also the best-armed member of the porcupine family. Like other rodents, his teeth grow continuously, throughout his life. Therefore, in order to grind them down, the animal has to constantly gnaw on hard branches, roots or bones.

BREEDING

Crested porcupines keep alone, and only during mating do these animals form pairs. Porcupines willingly settle in rock crevices and underground burrows. They occupy abandoned burrows of other animals or dig them themselves. Holes dug by porcupines reach 10 m in length and go underground to a depth of 4 m. In a hole with 2-3 extensions. In one of these rooms, the female builds a nest. Approximately every 35 days, the female is in heat again. She usually brings cubs 2-3 times a year. Before mating, partners lick each other.

When the female is ready to mate, she lies down on the ground and presses the needles to her body so that the male does not get hurt on them during the act. Pregnancy lasts approximately 110-115 days. The female gives birth to 2-3 cubs, which are born covered with bristly hair. Their needles are still soft, but after a week they can prick painfully. Babies are born with open eyes. The mother feeds them with milk. After a few weeks, the babies are already eating solid food.

FOOD

At dusk, the common porcupine leaves the shelter and slowly, carefully looking around, goes in search of food. Most often, the animal wanders all night near its hole or cave, in the crevice of which it lives. The crested porcupine's menu consists of a variety of roots, tubers, fallen fruits, leaves, perennial herbs, and berries. The porcupine has rather weak eyesight, so the animal relies mainly on a wonderful sense of smell. Good hearing also plays an important role in the search for food. The sound of fruits falling to the ground, he can hear at a great distance. When eating food, the crested porcupine supports it with its front paws.

SELF DEFENSE

Only a few animals dare to fight with a porcupine. The exception is and . However, even these big cats must be very hungry to risk attacking a porcupine. The dark brown back of the porcupine's body is densely covered with sharp, black and white quills. Very hard needles that have sharp, cylindrical tips at the end, usually grow up to 30 cm. Under these needles are white and short tail needles. If a crested porcupine is attacked or feels threatened, the beast immediately raises its quills and starts rattling them. If the enemy could not be driven away, then the animal attacks the enemy backwards. The quills of the crested porcupine are loosely attached to the skin, and their ends are covered with small burrs, which, at the slightest touch, are stuck and penetrate into the body of the enemy. It is very difficult to extract them. Wounds after an injection very often become inflamed and can even lead to the death of the animal. Therefore, the porcupine is well armed and protected from the attack of natural enemies.

INTERESTING INFORMATION. DO YOU KNOW WHAT...

• It used to be believed that a porcupine that was attacked could shoot quills from its tail like arrows.
• Local residents used to make arrowheads and spearheads from the quills of the crested porcupine.
• Bones and hard branches are found in almost every hole of the common porcupine. The animal gnaws them, grinding off incisors that grow throughout life.
• The porcupine lives on the ground. The North American tree porcupine, or porcupine, which belongs to a different family, lives in trees.
• The crested porcupine can drink large amounts of water almost silently. This animal is also an amazing swimmer.

PECULIARITIES OF THE PURCOASE. DESCRIPTION

Crest: consists of backward directed, very long, white and gray bristles. At the request of the animal, the bristles can rise to form a long, spiky comb.

Needles: the surface is covered with small burrs. The needles are very close, short and long, smooth, pointed, weakly seated in the skin. Having buried themselves in the body of the enemy, they immediately come off.

Protection method: if the crested porcupine feels threatened or frightened of something, it immediately turns to the source of the threat with the back of its body and bristles with sharp quills. In great anger, the animal stamps its hind legs; a captured porcupine lets out a grunt-like cry.

Tail rattle: at the end, the tail quills of the crested porcupine are hollow. They look like tubes. The tail rattle makes a rumbling sound that scares off enemies.

WHERE THE PORCOSE LIVES

The common porcupine is found in North Africa, with the exception of the Sahara, as well as in southern Italy, Sicily and Greece - it is believed that it was brought here by the ancient Romans.

Porcupine is directly related to the rodent family. The body length of the animal is approximately 80 cm, and the weight is about 13 kg. Appearance porcupine in the photo suggests that he is a rather gloomy and aggressive creature.

In particular, we are talking about the needles that cover the body of the animal. The approximate number of needles is 30 thousand. They may seem heavy, but, in fact, each needle weighs no more than 250 g.

Besides, porcupine quills they do not at all prevent him from moving, on the contrary, they help the represented rodent to keep its body on the water, as well as to protect itself from predators.

The fact is that the needles play the role of floats, thanks to the voids inside and, of course, scare others away. At the same time, they are the reason for the extermination of porcupines, since needles are used in the manufacture of all kinds of jewelry.

The porcupine is distinguished by extremely strong and strong teeth. For example, in order to gnaw through a metal wire of medium diameter, an animal will need a small amount of time. The diet of the rodent includes a variety of roots, apples, as well as the fruits of hawthorn, wild rose.

Besides, porcupine eats pumpkin and potatoes, for the sake of the extraction of which the rodent is quite ready to go to someone's plot. At the same time, animals are used to sleeping during the daytime, and hunting for their favorite plant food at night. How much the animal loves pumpkin, you can see porcupine video at the bottom of the article.

Also among the favorite varieties of porcupine food should be attributed to the bark and branches of various trees. It is worth noting that each porcupine is a significant threat to the forest. The thing is that they practically cannot do without bark.

Porcupines quickly climb a tree with long, strong claws in search of a convenient place. Sitting on a strong branch, the animal proceeds to its meal.

To appreciate the damage that porcupines cause to trees, one need only imagine that during one winter only, a representative of the rodent family is able to destroy up to a hundred trees.

A very common legend is that porcupines, in case of danger, shoot with their sharp needles. However, in fact, this is a myth, the cause of which lies in the behavior of the porcupine and the features of its "weapon".

Despite the formidable appearance of the needles, they do not hold firmly enough, therefore, when the porcupine senses danger and intends to intimidate the enemy, it shakes its tail, which leads to the fall of the needles.

Species and habitat of porcupine

By using pictures of porcupines it is easy to guess that these animals are divided into a large number of species, the main of which are South African, Malay, crested, Indian and Javanese.

At the same time, the name of each species appeared in connection with the territory in which it is distributed. Among all types, there are also tree porcupine, which is inferior to its relatives in body size and length of needles.

Pictured is a tree porcupine

South African porcupine got its name from its habitat. At the same time, the animal prefers all kinds of vegetation cover, with the exception of wooded areas.

crested porcupine considered the most common variety of the entire genus. It can be found in a fairly vast territory, which includes Southern Europe, Asia Minor and Southeast, the Middle East, India, and partially some other lands.

Indian porcupine is found not only in India, but also in South, Central Asia, in the Transcaucasus and on the territory. The habitat of the Javan porcupine is represented by the territory of Indonesia, and the Malay species is distributed in the northeast, in Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, as well as some islands and peninsulas.

Pictured crested porcupine

In general, the porcupine is considered a mountain animal. At the same time, it is most convenient for him to live in his own hole. In the foothills, representatives of the rodent family are found infrequently, and even less often on the flat terrain.

However, even there the porcupine tries to find a place with ravines, hollows and other landscape phenomena. The porcupine lives not only in burrows that it digs on its own, but also in rock voids, caves, etc.

Often the porcupine burrow consists of numerous branches and additional passages. Quite often, porcupine can be found near settlements. Addicted to food grown on plots, sometimes porcupine begging for food daring to get extremely close to people.

Reproduction and lifespan of the porcupine

Porcupines breed only once during the year, and this period falls in early spring. As a rule, porcupines are characterized by a small number of offspring, the maximum number of cubs reaches five. However, most often one or two porcupines are born, so we can safely talk about not intensive reproduction.

Having been born, the porcupine cub is already a well-formed and moderately developed animal. He is quite capable of climbing trees, but instead of quills, a newborn porcupine has soft hair, which is why he cannot defend himself.

Pictured is a baby porcupine

But, after a short time, each hair begins to harden, as a result of which strong needles appear. The average life span of porcupines is about 20 years. People managed to tame these animals, so now there are many opportunities to buy a porcupine as a pet.

Porcupine is a rodent that lives in Southeast Asia, Southern Europe and in the camps of Asia Minor and the Middle East. Also, this animal can be found in Sri Lanka and Indochina. These rodents, visible from afar, inhabit mainly mountainous areas, but they can also live in deserts, on the plains.

Most of the time, the porcupine hides in caves, under tree roots, or between rocks. Rodents dig large holes for themselves in soft soils - sometimes a porcupine hole can reach 10 meters in length. Agile animals try to find such a shelter for themselves, from which it will be possible to get out at least in two ways.

It is easy to distinguish a porcupine from other rodents - its body is covered with needles, the length of which can reach half a meter. The porcupine itself can reach a meter in length. The needles of this unusual rodent can be black and white, black or brown in color. Porcupine quills change over the course of life. In total, the number of needles on the body of a porcupine can reach 30,000 pieces. Its needles perform a protective function and help the rodent stay on the water - the needles are hollow. However, the assumption that a porcupine can shoot quills is incorrect - this animal can only discard its quills if a predator touches them. But there are no quills on the elongated muzzle and on the abdomen of the porcupine. Like all rodents, the porcupine has sharp teeth.

The porcupine is mainly nocturnal. The main food of the rodent is vegetation and small insects - in the summer, the porcupine does not have problems with food. In winter, these animals move closer to the villages, where they can steal food from vegetable gardens and people's cellars. Also in winter, porcupines feed on bark. In winter, rodents rarely leave their burrows, and with the onset of March, they begin to breed. The female can bring from two to five cubs.

Cute porcupine eating corn

Talking porcupine eats a pumpkin and praises